The Photographer and the Hospital

Critical. It can be a scary word.

A visit to the hospital might be the worst day of your life. Or maybe your best. Either way, you want to know you’re in good hands. The smartest. The most talented. The team that’s moving in sync, shepherding you toward wellness. But critical also means important. And therein lies the million ways that the doctors, nurses, lab techs, aides, intake specialists and outreach workers each do their part; the many moving parts that are a premier health care organization.

Medicine is a world that is at once large and small. The vision of donors and foundations with profound goals. A healthy public? A well nation? A goal not too high for some. And at the heart of it– a legion of professionals each practicing their training. With precision and care, one patient then another. And just up the hallway, perhaps it’s the aide with the friendly eyes who calms your frightened child.

John Valls knows where all these stories happen. He’s photographed in the bright light of brain surgery and the dim light of hospice. With doctors and patients, teachers and students. With technicians who operate the medical devices and the people who have been saved by them.